Beefcake Babylon Exhibition: Review

Been so busy that we forgot to mention earlier that Hollywood Gothique attended the wine-and-cheese reception for the opening of the “Beefcake Babylon” exhibition at drkrm gallery.

Emphasizing gladiator and sword-and-sandal movies, this showing of posters and stills is not as exciting as the galleries previous exhibition, “Haunted Hacienda.” Still, it’s worth seeing for the camp value, if nothing else.

Although the films are mostly musclemen epics, many of them were heavily influence by Greek mythology; hence, they often included mythical monsters, which is why we consider the topic worth covering in Hollywood Gothique. Unfortunately, the artwork on display (despite stills from Fellini’s SATYRICON and posters from HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD and THE CRIMSON EXECUTIONER) mostly emphasizes the muscle. In fact, many of the stills are not from films at all; they are simply posed publicity shots of the male bodybuilders who were inevitably cast in these films.

I shot some video with the showing’s curator, David Del Valle, explaining the history of the films whose artwork was on display. I’ll post it as soon as I can edit it all together (which won’t happen until the new editing software that I purchased online arrives). Despite my reservations about the showing, I think the video may whet your appetite for a visit.

Beefcake Babylon will run through September 23th; hours are 11:00am to 5:00pm Tuesday through Saturday. Get more info at the drkrm gallery’s website.